Why Are Smokers More Likely to have less Education and Less Income?

More and more people are quitting every day. If it was easy for you to quit smoking, you probably would have quit already. But those who are still smoking are more likely to have less education, less income and are more likely to have a substance abuse problem or a mental illness. This does NOT apply to all smokers but this is the group that are having a hard time quitting. Is there a connection? Up to 95% of individuals with schizophrenia smoke and 85% of hard core alcoholics are also smokers. If you have a substance abuse problem or a mental illness, then it would stand to reason that you might make less money than someone without these added problems or have more difficulty in maintaining employment?
Individuals with substance abuse problems and mental illness are also the ones that are probably more highly physically addicted and are best candidates for medications, yet often they can't afford the up front cost for these type of help because of their lower income, while those with higher income are able to pay for help out of pocket.
Most insurance companies do not pay for medications or counseling to stop smoking while the tobacco companies spend $164 million each year to try and get more people to start smoking.
If everyone on medicaid stopped smoking, the annual savings after 5 years would be $9.7 Billion.
Smoking is more than just a bad habit, it is a health care crisis that costs our society $7.18 for every pack of cigarettes sold. It's time for us to stand up and recognize the health care problem that smoking has created and it's time to do something about it, it's time to prevent the next generation from ever starting, it's time to help every smoker quit who wants to quit and it's time to recognize that smoking is an addiction that our society can not afford to support. And it is the weakest individuals within our society that tobacco hurts the most, the poor, the under educated and those suffering from other addictions.

Should Stop Smoking be an Inpatient Program like for Alcohol?

There are a couple of inpatient programs in the United States. The Mayo Clinic has a inpatient program that is a combination of medications, cognitive-behavior therapy and relapse prevention. Many people successfully quit in this environment. Yet the people that come to my workshops that have been through other inpatient programs, tell me that it is easier to quit in a protected environment because you are away from your normal triggers but once back in your "real" life, every smoker still has the small issues to deal with and it is easy to relapse. Like I have said before--every method will work for some, no method will work for everyone.
I am often told by smokers in my workshops that I am their "last resort" that they have tried everything else and nothing has worked for them. I think that individuals that may benefit the most from an inpatient program are ones that are highly addictive, have other substance abuse problems or a mental illness and need a physician to monitor their medications. Often individuals such as these will need a combination mediation therapy that lasts at least 6 months to a year while they are dealing with the other aspects of quitting such as habits, stress, and social situations.
So if you have the money to spend on an inpatient program that might be the way to go but only if you are serious about working on the other issues to prevent relapse.

Appreciation for Quitting Smoking

I have been helping smokers become smoke free since 1990 and I love receiving letters like the following. It makes it all worth while:

Dear V.J.,

Just needed to drop you a note and thank you for your support and guidance to help me stop smoking. I am "smoke free" since June 8, 2002. Sometimes I still here your voice in my head saying "Remember, you are only a puff away from a pack a day" so I have not even had a single puff since June 7, 2002. Thank you so much for taking my calls early in the morning when I wanted to smoke so badly and giving me tips on how I could get through that moment. Of course chewing on ice chips and baby carrots helped too.

I am grateful for the freedom not smoking has giving me! I no longer have to find the lighter, the pack of smokes and especially a place where it is legal to smoke! I took your advise and started saving the money I would have been spending on cigarettes. Thanks to those savings and not smoking I was able to realize a lifelong dream of flying to Hawaii (I was born there). I had never been able to go before because the thought of not being able to smoke for that long kept me a prisoner. Then I continued to save and my youngest son is going to college on thos savings! what a trip huh? (by the way my sons don't smoke either!)

Again, V.J. thank you for your dedication, your knowledge and you support of me. By the way, if you ever hear that old myth that alcoholics and addicts can't stop smoking, you can tell them for that is simply not true! I am both and they said it would not be possible for me to quit and not drink or use. And yes, stopping smoking was very, very difficult for me yet, one day at a time and with the help of you and your program I remain '"smoke free" for 2252 days (and counting )
See ya at the next Walk for Life. I'll be there in gratitude of being smoke free!

Sincerely,

Dani Melton

Smoking Kills More Alcoholics than Alcohol

Addicts will argue that you don't get arrested for smoking as they do for drinking and drugging but it's the smoking that is going to kill them. Nicotine is usually the first addictive substance an addict will use and it is usually the last one that they give up or dying trying.
It time to realize what smoking is---the most harmful addiction, worse for the health of an individual than any other substance. Substance abuse centers will have an addict stop all addictive substances even caffeine but will let smokers continue to indulge in their nicotine addiction. Smoking kills more alcohols and drug addicts than their primary drug of choice. It's time to make health insurance companies pay for cessation programs and medications, just like they do for other addictive substances.

Quit Smoking to Improve Staying Sober

Here is a very interesting article that encourages alcoholics to stop smoking at the same time they quit drinking. Many drinkers use the excuse that they can't quit smoking at the same time, and many treatment facilities take the addict off of all addictive substances including caffeine EXCEPT for nicotine. It is about time that we started treating nicotine as the addictive substance it is:


Source: Harvard Health Publications

"People who are dependent on alcohol are also likely to smoke cigarettes. Many experts believe that it’s important to counsel alcohol-dependent individuals to give up smoking as well as drinking—not just to improve their health, but also to increase their chances of staying sober, reports a recent issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter.

It is a common worry that trying to quit smoking and drinking at the same time will undermine treatment for alcohol dependence. However, most studies have reported that efforts to quit smoking either have no impact on maintaining sobriety or actually increase success of alcohol treatment.

There are no smoking cessation guidelines specifically for alcohol-dependent adults. For now, the best option is to follow the federal guidelines for treating tobacco dependence, which recommend a combination of counseling and medication.

A major and still unresolved question is whether it’s better to give up smoking and drinking together, or whether it’s better to tackle one addiction at a time. Researchers have found that when smoking cessation support was delayed by six months, study participants were more likely to remain sober compared with those who received concurrent treatment for both addictions. But a follow-up analysis found that this may have been true only for white people in the study.

Michael C. Miller, MD, editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter , notes that no single approach is best for every person struggling with both alcohol and nicotine addiction. Whether an individual quits smoking during alcohol treatment or later, it's a net health gain."

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